Larry March
Professor R.M Stambaugh
English 1102
24 February 2012
The embodiment of the absurd hero: “Existence precedes essence” The only thing we can’t not do is not choose. The story of The Guest is about Daru, a lonely schoolteacher in Camus’ boyhood home of Algeria. Daru likes living in solitude, but he must learn to recognize that choices are unavoidable and that his choices matter. The story takes place in the middle of the nineteenth century when Algeria is still a land full of conflict between the oppressed Algerian people and their French colonial rulers. At the beginning of the story the French send the gendarme, Balducci to Daru with an Arab convicted of murder. Through Balducci the prisoner comes under the charge of Daru, who must choose whether to turn him over to the law or act according to his honor and let him go free. During the Arab’s overnight stay, Daru and his guest develop a bond that teaches Daru about the brotherhood of humankind and his equality with this prisoner, a criminal from a different race. For an existentialist, Daru’s position is significant; before him lies a morally ambiguous situation and a dilemma he cannot escape. He faces two options, one to hand his guest over to the authorities and earn the hatred of the Algerian people, or two break free from the code of society and help him to go free, gaining him his own people’s disapproval. Although a controversy decision he takes a stand and tells Balducci that he refuses to turn his guest in. Choice is definitive of the nature of an individual. You don't know a person's choices until they make them. Therefore, our nature unfolds in the time of living our lives. Once a bond develops between the two, guest and host, Daru decides to offer the choice to the prisoner. Alone in a hostile world, Daru illustrates the idea of the absurd hero that is at the root of Camus’ philosophy. In a silent, meaningless world where the human is the only value, we see the absurd in the...

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...THE THEATRE OF THE ABSURD
The dictionary meaning of the word ‘Absurd’ is unreasonable, ridiculous or funny. But it is used in a somewhat different sense when we speak of the ‘Theatre of the Absurd’, or more commonly known now-a-days as ‘Absurd Drama’.
The phrase ‘The Theatre of the Absurd’ was coined by the critic Martin Esslin, who made it the title of his book on the same subject, published in 1961. Esslin points out in this book that there is no such thing as a regular “movement” of Absurd Dramatists. The term was useful as ‘a device to make certain common fundamental traits that were present in the works of a number of dramatists’. Esslin saw in the works of these playwrights as artistic co-relation to Albert Camus’ philosophy that life is inherently without meaning as is described in his work ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’. In this essay Camus has described the situation of the human beings as one out of harmony with its surroundings.
The Theatre of the Absurd, today, can be considered as a designation for particular plays written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, and also, along with that, to the style and form of theatre which has evolved from their work.
A short but true story narrated in the beginning of Martin Esslin’s book The Theatre of the Absurd provides the...

...Theater of the Absurd
Theater of the Absurd came about as a reaction to World War II. It took the basis of existential philosophy and combined it with dramatic elements to create a style of theatre which presented a world which can not be logically explained, life is in one word, ABSURD!
Needless to say, this genre of theatre took quite some time to catch on because it used techniques that seemed to be illogical to the theatre world. The plots often deviated from the more traditional episodic structure, and seem to move in a circle, ending the same way it began. The scenery was often unrecognizable, and to make matters worse, the dialogue never seemed to make any sense.
The “Theatre of the Absurd” is a term coined by Hungarian-born critic Martin Esslin, who made it the title of his 1962 book on the subject. According to Esslin, the five defining playwrights of the movement are Eugène Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Arthur Adamov, and Harold Pinter, although these writers were not always comfortable with the label and sometimes preferred to use terms such as "Anti-Theater" or "New Theater".
Examples of absurd play:
1. Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett
2. Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco
3. Journeys to the Home of the Dead by Eugene Ionesco
4. The Room by Harold Pinter
5. Mountain Language Harold Pinter
Surrealism - A movement attacking formalism in the...

...Theatre of the Absurd
Term coined by Martin Esslin, who wrote The Theatre of the Absurd.
Works in drama and prose faction with the common theme:
* human condition is essentially absurd and
* this condition can be represented properly only by literature that is absurd in itself
Movement emerged in France after WWII against the traditional beliefs and values of traditional lit and culture:
* assumption that man is a rational creature,
* part of an ordered social structure,
* inhabiting an intelligible universe and
* capable of heroism and dignity even in defeat
After 1940s, tendency to see man as
* Isolated
* Living in an alien universe which has no truth, value or meaning (no idea of divine retribution etc.)
* Life meaningless moving from nothing to nothing– no discernable reason for existence
An existence anguished and absurd
Eugene Ionesco of the theatre for the absurd puts it: “Cut off from his religious, metaphysical and transcendental roots, man is lost; all his actions become senseless, absurd, useless”
In his La Tentation de l’occident, Andre Malraux remarked: “at the centre of European man, dominating the great moments of his life, there lies an essential absurdity”.
This theme is expounded in Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus: A...

...What is the Theatre of the Absurd?
The theatre of the absurd is a term that was created by a Hungarian Critic Martin Esslin. It is a term that represents a few European playwrights in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Some characteristics of the theatre of the absurd include broad comedy, mixed with horrific or tragic images, characters caught in hopeless situations forced to do repetitive or meanlingless actions, dialogue full of clichés, wordplay and nonsense: plots that are cynical or absurdly expansive; either a parody or dismissal of realism and the concept of well made play. Esslin had four major play wrights that had different techniques in which ‘absurdism’ was shown through. These play wrights were: Samuel Beckett, Arthur Adamov, Eugene Ionesco and Jean Genet.
Most of the absurdist play come under Tragic Comedy . This is influenced hugely by William Shakespeare who was the first great playwright to use Tragic Comedy. However, even though there was a lot of tragic situations in The Theatre of the Absurd, comedy always came through well. A lot of the material used in the Theatre of the Absurd is borrowed from earlier playwrights and also cites early comedians such as Charlie Chaplin, The Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy.
The Theatre of the Absurd is commonly associated with Existentialism. On stage is presented on stage the philosophy which was articulated by a French Philosopher by...

...Existentialism and the Absurd
The novel, The Stranger, by Albert Camus,consists of a first person narrator, Meursault. Meursault, the main character, acquires an absurd philosophy on the essence of life.His mindset is that life is not only insignificant, it is unavoidable. Meursault's’ life consists of futile bonds, nonchalant behavior, and living an existence of mere tangible exercises throughout the story. In this novel, human life appears to have no meaning in the grand spectrum of the universe. Meursault gives an example of this ideology when he comes in contact with the chaplain who talks about life after death. Meursault, who has a strong disagreement with the idea of Christianity, reveals to the chaplain his outlook on the meaninglessness of life. Meursault's journey through his daily monotonous life finds himself unable to connect with humanity and only able to focus on the concrete tangibility.
The first sentence of the book states, “Today, mama died. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know”(Camus 1).Meursault's careless response to his mother’s death conveys a sense of resignation or carelessness.This idea is supported by his lack of ambition to derive personal relationships with the people around him. Meursault's only pleasure in the story are the warmth of the sun, a touch from his fiancee, Marie, and the taste of his cigarette. Meursault gets his pleasures from tangible objects. Camus shows Meursault's philosophy in life is...

...powers that would appear whenever they needed them just like Superman, Spiderman and other heroes. In reality those supernatural heroes do not exist. Actually they are people who are just normal, yet are called heroes not for their powers, but for the achievements they have accomplished through their lives. A hero is someone who makes a change in many lives including his or her own life. Defining the word hero may differ from one culture to another, but they share some essential characteristics. Polster (2001) writes that a hero definition must include these following characteristics “first respect human life, second have a strong sense of personal choice and effectiveness, third their perspective on the world is original, forth they are brave, and fifth they are not measured by publicity.” Harriet Tubman is one of the most heroic women in history. She conducted a journey through the Underground Railroad to seek her freedom and the freedom of another three hundred slaves. Leadership, bravery and selflessness are three qualities of a hero and Harriet Tubman exemplifies all of them.
The heroic feature of leadership is one of the most important qualities of a hero. A true hero is able to translate his dream to reality, is able to lead people, and also able to make decisions with great insight in the worst circumstances. According to Cohen (2010), heroic leadership is about doing the right...

...Camus view of the world was seen to have centred on life, the meaning and values of existence, and how absurd it all was. The view of the absurd was a man's futile search for meaning, unity and clarity in the face of an unintelligible world devoid of God, eternal truths and values. Which then implies that there is an absence of any reasons to live there being no predefined purpose to the world or universe. To which the answer seems to be suicide, to remove yourself from a world that is decidedly strange and unfamiliar. Yet Camus does not seem to feel this is the answer that suicide is not the revolt although it certainly seems to be upon first glance. Camus feels that to revolt one must continue to live the absurd, to find your own values and meaning through your experiences of life. That even Sisyphus is happy through his eternal task. Cast as an absurdhero Camus uses Sisyphus as a metaphor for humanity, yet he says that we must imagine Sisyphus happy in his absurd predicament of meaningless work.
The puts that absurd is a quality or condition of existing in a meaningless and irrational world, the incompatibility of man and the world, yet they are inseparable (Gilbert G Hardy, 1979, Happiness beyond the Absurd, p372). We live in an absurd and irrational world and suicide is the first impulse to end the absurd, towards the revolt...

... English 3
Heroes Prompt
Who deserves the right to be called a hero? I have heard many stories of
people that have risen to a challenge to help someone in need. I do, however,
disagree with the media’s interpretation of heroism. The media is usually
uplifting a celebrity for an act of kindness, when there are so many others that
show sacrifice, perseverance and confidence on a daily basis. Just because a
person is famous, does not give them the right to be labeled a hero. I feel
celebrities and heroes are two different types of people.
Heroes should sacrifice the wants they have for themselves to help and be
there for others. Heroes are always willing to get out of their comfort zone when
they are needed. Even when they want to be selfish and have time for
themselves, they always put others first. They are admired by others for their
acts of kindness, not just admired because they are well-known celebrities and
doing a good deed. Some celebrities like Angelina Jolie, have used their wealth
as actors to help others by starting foundations. Other people like nurses help
people every day on their jobs, because they desire to help people even if they
don’t have wealth or fame.
Another quality a hero should have is perseverance. Even when heroes fail,
they are determined to achieve their...